The new Hitsville online casino and online poker room plans to ban U.S. players according to Detroit media reports.  Herb Strather, an original partner in MotorCity Casino, which owns Hitsville, stated that the Hitsville site doesn’t accept wagers from U.S. residents because of current anti-online gambling laws in the country.  U.S players will instead have the option to play games at Hitsvillecasino.com and Hitsvillepoker.com for play money rather than real money.  The U.S. anti-online gambling policy is in stark contrast to nearly 70 other countries, including Great Britain, that permit online gambling.  One newspaper noted that gambling industry analysts estimated that the online gambling business handles approximately $10 billion a year worldwide, Checks on the Hitsvillepoker.com site last week showed an average of 5 000 to 6 000 players logged on to the site on a regular basis.

Ellen Whittemore, a gaming and regulatory law attorney hired by Hitsville said that the site employs Wagerworks, a vendor with sophisticated address-tracking systems, to ensure that the  site operates legally.

The site’s Motown theme is a result of Strather’s desire to help revive and celebrate Detroit’s musical heritage.  Toward that end, Strather even recruited former Motown stars and non-Motown musical stars to add their names, photos and new music to the Hitsville sites. Strather was unable, however, to use the Motown brand in the online venture because Universal Music Group, which owns the Motown label, and EMI, which owns its song copyrights, would not permit the use of the music on the sites. Strather then discovered that the Hitsville name was available so he used that name instead.  The name of Hitsville is associated with the Los Angeles-based headquarters of Motown during Motown’s early years.  Strather said that he hopes that Hitsville will be able to capitalize on the Motown legend, the Motown sound, and Detroit’s music heritage.

The Hitsville online casino and online poker room grand opening were celebrated in style when Detroit-based Hitsville Venture L.L.C hosted a party on Sept. 9 for 700 people.  The party was held at the Berry Gordy mansion in the historic Boston-Edison neighborhood.

Posted on: December 20, 2006

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